FIFA have announced the three final candidates to win The Best Award in the second edition of the trophy. This time, Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi and Neymar Junior will fight to become the best player of 2017.
The Portuguese striker of Real Madrid is the favourite again to win the award. Last year, he won the trophy, beating Leo Messi and Antoine Griezmann after winning the Champions League and the Euro with his national team. This year, Cristiano Ronaldo is still the favourite after being the topscorer in the Champions League and winning again the trophy. Besides, the Portuguese won La Liga with Real Madrid scoring in the most important games.
His rival will be again Leo Messi. The Argentinian striker was the topscorer in Europe last season and he is finishing the year brilliantly -he has scored 9 goals in only 5 games of La Liga-. Messi won only the Copa del Rey trophy, so perhaps this is not his year.
Neymar Junior is the alternative for the two best players in the world. The Brazilian made a shocking move this summer from Barcelona to PSG and he’s now one of the stars in football. However, Neymar is still very far from Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo and he’ll have to wait his opportunity to win individual awards.
Other important Real Madrid players like Sergio Ramos, Luka Modric or Toni Kroos could have been shortlisted as well after their great season, especially because no club had won back to back titles of the Champions League.
Last year was the first time that FIFA gave this award. Before, they decide to join with France Football and give the ‘Ballon D’Or’ together. Now, this important trophy will be given away separately in the first weeks of 2018. Will Cristiano Ronaldo win both awards again? It’s very likely that this happen.
